Tag: Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday 2019

In Ash Wednesday’s gospel reading, Jesus offers instruction on prayer. 

There are times when I pray because I’m in desperate need of some major help! I’m ill-equipped to handle the tasks before me, missing vital information, or am simply overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of thoughts and ideas, to-dos and demands. 

Occasionally, however, the Lord throws me into a situation I perceive to be beyond human help; He asks me to do something akin to leveling mountains and straightening curvy pathways. “Lord,” I so often ask, “Why ever did You plunk me down into the middle of this mess? What are You thinking?”

Because Lent is a call to prayer, it is also a invitation to evaluate and understand these difficult circumstances. Only in solitude can I develop the interior disposition of single-minded and single-hearted attention to the Lord. This internal default is essential if I am to notice His Intervention in these impossible situations, and perhaps this witnessing of the Lord’s Presence is why He’s asked me to be there too. 

The Holy Spirit is waiting to open my eyes, to feed me with insight and intuition, to dazzle me with the Light of His Presence, but if I am to truly see, I must first discover Him in the dark … I must go to my room. 

 

Reflection Questions for Journaling:

      1. Do I need to develop or change the space in which I sit alone with the Lord every day? Have I set aside specific time and developed a prayer routine?
      2. What circumstances in my life do I pray for out of need for personal help? 
      3. What situations do I pray for because I perceive it requires essential transformation at bedrock? (In other words, the situation needs help beyond a human fix.) Do I notice the Divine Intervention in Motion? How might I become a better witness? 

© 2019 Marilyn MacArthur, all rights reserved

Ash Wednesday, 2018

Joel 2:12-18; 2 Col 5:20-6:2; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

 

Hidden Messiah #1

Rend your hearts, let spirit be stirred.
Let the Lord break open your soul.
Like the sealed scroll of Sacred Word,
Rend your hearts, let spirit be stirred.
Light will shine on hearts once interred:
Hidden Messiah, here below–
Rend your hearts, let spirit be stirred.
Let the Lord break open your soul.

 

Word Study

Rend so ye may render

Rend your hearts, not your garments…

to rend:
to split, cleave,
to rip up, tear open
to break into, break through, break up

Rend so ye may render!

to render:
to give up or back
to give in return for
to furnish, provide, supply

and return to the LORD, your God.

 

Journal Questions:

  1. Both poems play with the words rend and render.
    1. What experiences have I had which I characterize as a rending?
    2. What experiences seem to have been a rendering?
    3. How have these experiences effected my relationship with God?
    4. How will I respond this year to the invitation to rend my heart?
  2. What influence does scripture have on my heart, soul and mind?

 

© 2018 Marilyn MacArthur, all rights reserved